Fox hunting is the use of dogs under human control to locate, chase and kill foxes. The hunters can be on horseback or on foot. The dogs are specialist scent hounds trained to detect and follow the scent of the red fox. A typical fox hound pack contains 30-40 dogs and they are generally accompanied by dozens of hunters who take on various roles.

Despite it being the 21st century, the people involved in a fox hunt are still known as masters and servants. The hunt masters are the bosses or organisers. They are financially and legally responsible for the hunt and the role of hunt master carries significant prestige. Most hunts have several masters though not all masters are present at every hunt meet.

Fascinating facts about the Red Fox

Few native species divide opinion as deeply as the red fox. Despite being voted the third most popular British mammal in a recent BBC Wildlife survey, foxes still face widespread demonisation and persecution. A better understanding of fox ecology and behaviour – and the essential ecological role they play – can help dispel the myths and misconceptions about this iconic British species. The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is the most widely distributed wild carnivore on the planet. It naturally occurs across North America, Eurasia and Japan, and even as far north as the Arctic Circle. It has also been deliberately introduced (and thrived) in other regions such as Australia by English colonisers for the purpose of foxhunting. This widespread global success is due to the fox’s incredible adaptability

From King Canute to David Cameron, hunting has taken place worldwide for hundreds of years. Its original purpose was to provide food and protect livestock. The practice of using dogs with a keen sense of smell to track prey has been traced back to ancient Egypt and many Greek and Roman influenced countries. It is believed that the custom for a fox to be tracked, chased and often killed by trained hunting hounds, known as "scent hounds" and followed by the Master of the Foxhounds and his team on foot and horseback, originated from a Norfolk farmer’s attempt to catch a fox using farm dogs in 1534.

985 -1035

King Canute the Dane said that all greyhounds kept within ten miles of a royal forest should have their knees mutilated to prevent them chasing the deer. However, the same king ordered that every man should be entitled to hunt in wood and field in his own possession.

Drag hunting and hunting with bloodhounds is a sport in which a pack of hounds follows either an artificially laid scent or the scent of a human over a predetermined route. Most drag hounds and bloodhound packs are registered with the Masters of Draghounds and Bloodhounds Association (MDBA). Drag hunting, or drag hunting, originally developed in the UK in the early 1800s as a means of testing the speed and agility of hounds by laying a scent trail over a specified distance. This, in turn, encouraged the practice of following the hounds on horseback. There are currently thirteen drag hounds packs in the UK registered with the MDBA made up mainly of English foxhounds.

Autumn Hunting is the hunter’s prelude to the new season. Often referred to by Hunts as ‘gentle training’ and classified as ‘suitable for younger members’, meaning that children from the Pony Club can attend.

So what is Autumn Hunting?

Autumn Hunting or ‘Hound exercise’ as the Hunt’s now refer to it, was previously known, more honestly, as ‘cubbing’. Hunting takes place ‘when the harvest allows’. It generally runs throughout September and October will start from ‘first light’ around 6 am.

The “Meets” as the hunts refer to them are held early in the morning as the scent of the fox’s is fresh and easier for the young hounds to pick up.

This Boxing Day, hunts will gather to parade in villages across England and Wales for the traditional Boxing Day meet. But this year there will be a new atmosphere - a wind of change.

Dr. Brian May at the Three Counties Bloodhounds Wales This Boxing Day, hunts will gather to parade in villages across England and Wales for the traditional Boxing Day meet. But this year there will be a new atmosphere - a wind of change. A few months ago there was an attempt by Cameron and his merry men to undermine the Hunting Act with a ‘Statutory Instrument’. It would have reopened the door to full scale blood hunting but it was foiled, not just by Cameron’s political opponents, but also by a courageous band of Tory MP’s who refused to be bullied into supporting an act of Parliament which would take away the protection of our wildlife from cruelty.

Trail hunting did not exist before the Hunting Act 2004. When the Act came into force, the Masters of the Draghounds and Bloodhounds Association (MDBA) were particularly concerned that illegal live quarry hunting, under the guise of following an artificially laid scent, would have a detrimental effect on the sport of drag hunting. To prevent their sport being brought into disrepute, the MDBA insisted that the term 'drag hunting' should remain their exclusive property. As a consequence, the term 'trail hunting' was invented.

Trail hunting is designed to replicate live quarry hunting as much as possible and involves simulating the search in covert for a scent to follow. The laying of trails, it is claimed, is carried out in such a way as to mirror the movements of the hunted live quarry with the result that the progress of the hunt is less predictable and at a slower pace than that of a drag hunt. There is more emphasis on hound work in trail hunting than in drag hunting. The trail scent purportedly used is animal-based; there is little information on the type of scent used but in the case of traditional fox hunting packs, fox urine is often claimed to be used. The reason given for the use of animal based scents is that if the Hunting Act is repealed the hounds do not have to be re-trained to hunt the natural quarry scent.

Hare are hunted with packs of hounds, beagles, and bassets (also referred to as ‘beagling’, where the hounds are followed on foot) and by harriers (followed on horseback). These hounds were bred, not for the speed but for the stamina that guaranteed the lengthy chase the hunters sought. The hare is not a native species to the UK and was introduced by the Romans. During the late 1800s, there were about four million brown hares in Britain. But recent surveys show the brown hare has declined by more than 80% during the past 100 years and the decline is ongoing. In some parts of Britain, such as the south-west, the brown hare is almost a rarity and may even be locally extinct.

Between April and October, another form of hunting with hounds is carried out illegally; mink hunting. Carried out on foot along river banks, mink hunts are the remnants of otter hunts, which stopped after otters became a protected species.

There are 17 hunts and over 20 unregistered packs. They have between 12 & 16 hounds hunting - a mix of otterhounds, foxhounds, and others. Besides hunting mink, they will kill anything they come across, and there's concern that they'll kill otters if they come across them.

There are six species of deer in the UK; Red, Roe, Fallow, Sika, Muntjac and Chinese Water deer, all are hunted to some degree reflecting their relative population either as a "sport" or culling for the purposes of population control. Closed seasons for deer vary by species.

The practice of declaring a closed season in England dates back to medieval times when it was called "fence month" and commonly lasted from June 10th to July 10th although the actual dates varied. It is illegal to use bows to hunt any wild animal in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

THERE IS NO EXCUSE for the continuation of fox hunting. The only argument for it that you can believe is sincere, from its supporters, is that they enjoy it. But they will put up all kinds of smoke screens – essentially bogus defences. This fox lovers' guide provides definitive answers to the hunter's lame claims.

This is a fox lovers’ handbook designed to answer the lame claims of hunters who believe it’s acceptable to torture foxes to death.

Fourteen of the hunt supporters’ best shots detailed here, along with the answers which expose them as false.

In 2015, Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon announced her government would hold a review of the Protection of Wild Mammals Act 2002. In December, it was confirmed that the review would be led by Lord Bonomy with a consultation process starting in February and finishing by the end of March.

As part of the Team Fox coalition of wildlife groups, The Save Me Trust agreed to submit to the consultation, working closely in conjunction with the League Against Cruel Sports (Scotland) and a wide range of local groups based in Scotland who have detailed information on the antics of Scottish hunt packs.

We strongly oppose the government's proposals to amend the Hunting Act 2004 using a draft Order. The government proposes to use a statutory instrument to change the exemptions under the Act, in order to use an unlimited number of dogs in exempt cases. At present, the exemptions only apply where a maximum of two dogs are used. The government claims that it is amending the exemptions to bring them into line with the position in Scotland, under the Protection of Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002.

"The use of a draft Order, rather than a Bill to amend, is a good example of 'cherry picking' some of the bits of the Scottish legislation that favour hunters, without also taking on the related obligations. Most notably, the Scottish legislation has the possibility of higher penalties to go with its more liberal approach to the number of dogs used. The power to amend the existing exemptions by Order does not permit amendment of penalties and thus underlines the inappropriateness of the approach of using a draft Order.

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Dofoxeshuntinpacks

No, they don't. Unlike wolves, foxes are solitary hunters which means that even if in some areas they may form groups, they hunt for food on their own. Fox cubs may sometimes be seen playing together with bits of food but this is simply a 'game' and adult foxes have never been reported hunting together.

Very occasionally cubs can be seen hunting with the vixen.

Dofoxesposeahealthriskinmygarden

There is no known case of people catching diseases from foxes or their droppings in Britain: you are vastly more likely to catch an infection from your pet cat or dog.

FamilyLife

Most people that have seen a fox have probably met just one animal on its own. Indeed since foxes travel and hunt on their own, they are said to be solitary animals. This is not to say that they avoid other foxes but to exemplify the fact they do not hunt in packs like some other canids, such as wolves. For a long time it was believed that foxes lived a solitary life, meeting only during the mating season, but now we know that this is untrue.

The dominant male and female fox form a pair that may last for life, i.e. foxes are generally monogamous. The pair travel, hunt and feed independently but occasionally meet, either briefly or for longer periods during which they play or groom each other. In some areas, such as in urban areas, it is common for some other adult foxes to be present in addition to the breeding pair. These additional animals (sometimes called helpers) are subordinate to the dominant pair and generally are offspring of the pair, which remained with their parents past the normal age of dispersal when the family should break up. So, in certain conditions, foxes live in social groups rather than solitarily.

Foxes are territorial animals, i.e. they defend the area where they live against other foxes. That said, the use of scent marking to delimit their own space is a very effective way of communication and neighbours normally avoid meeting each other. If neighbours do meet, these encounters are generally benign, avoiding direct fights. Foxes are more aggressive towards strangers rather than other neighbouring foxes. Because of this territorial behaviour, if a fox is removed for a length of time from its territory, another fox will move in. This means that eliminating one animal from an area does not eliminate the presence of foxes altogether. On the other hand, foxes can easily be excluded from certain areas using non-lethal control methods.

Willfoxesattackmydogorcat

This is extremely unlikely. Foxes avoid dogs, even small dogs, because many foxes are killed by dogs. So it is much more likely that your dog will attack the fox, not the other way round. Attacks on cats are equally rare: cats and foxes are roughly the same size, and cats are very capable of defending themselves against foxes. So it is hardly surprising that foxes generally give cats a wide berth and flee when threatened by a cat.

Occasionally small kittens are killed, but this is extremely rare. Keeping your cat indoors at night greatly reduces the chances of an encounter with a fox. There are also a variety of other benefits: cats kept in at night are healthier and live longer, and kill less of the local wildlife.

There are many cats and foxes in the UK and it is very rare to lose a cat to a fox. Cats kill cats and cats can be run over, foxes will eat a dead cat as they are the bin men of the wild and clear up carrion.

Foxes&Children

In June 1973 The Sunday Times carried an article warning about the threats posed by urban foxes. However the evidence is that no child in Britain has been killed or severely injured in the 80 years since foxes colonised our cities. There are occasional relatively minor incidents involving foxes and children, invariably described in the press as an "attack", although it is very unlikely that a fox deliberately seeks out a child to attack it. In contrast, every year children are severely injured, maimed, and killed by dogs, very often their own pets and not just the larger or more dangerous breeds. The risk posed by dogs vastly outweighs the risk posed by foxes.

DangerousDogs

256,000 people were bitten by dogs last year over 6,000 people were actually hospitalised by dog bites. We don't call for a cull every time a dog bites so why kill wildlife. It's sad that some media feel a need to vilify the fox. They are not a threat to humans.

NHS and Dog attacks-Animal bites (such as dog bites) and human bites are a relatively common type of injury. In most cases, the wound that results from an animal bite is minor and can be treated with simple first aid.

Daily Mail article on Dog attacks - Dog bite cases in casualty departments topped 6,000 for the first time this year, they show. The fast-growing medical caseload caused largely by out-of-control dogs was disclosed in NHS data at a time of deepening concern over the injuries caused by dangerous dogs. READ MORE

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